Due to ever-increasing antibiotic resistance, structurally novel antibacterials with a new mode of action have become increasingly important in the treatment of bacterial infections. Effective antibacterials should exhibit potent activity against a number of human and veterinary pathogens, including gram-positive aerobic bacteria such as multiply-resistant staphylococci and streptococci, anaerobic organisms such as bacteroides and clostridia species, and acid-fast organisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium. The present invention provides structurally novel pharmaceutical compounds with expanded spectrum of antibacterial activity.
Among newer antibacterial agents, oxazolidinone compounds are the most recent synthetic class of antimicrobials active against a number of pathogenic microorganisms. However, oxazolidinones generally do not demonstrate useful levels of activity against aerobic gram-negative organisms. Thus, the use of these oxazolidinone antibacterial agents is limited to infectious states caused by gram-positive bacteria. We have now discovered that [3.1.0] bicyclohexylphenyl oxazolidinone derivatives and analogues of the present invention possess enhanced anti-gram-positive activity and/or expand the spectrum of antimicrobial activity to include gram-negative organisms such as Haemophilus influenza and Moraxella catarrhalis. 